Groak: to stare longingly at someone who is eating in the hope that they will ask you to join them

Chapter 14

"Are you coming down for dinner?" Yuma knocked on the girl's door. This was such a bore having to be her servant, calling her out like this. Ruki had seemed so damn distracted again, and Kou was playing his diva games again.

Nothing. He should probably check on her.

He walked over to her bed and found her asleep. She didn't look like she was having a good sleep either. She was really going to end up one of them ... just like when they'd been changed.

Except she wasn't being saved like they had been.

He wondered how much it would affect the taste of her blood; he didn't care for humans much – no human had cared for him after the fire. But he understood it a bit more: the painfulness of mortality and the need of some kind of family. Before the fire he had everything. Now his everything was this house, his brothers... and somehow this girl...

A vampire turned his human life aflame and the father of that same vampire attempted to bring it back together.

But if she hung around those dang purebloods, whose to say she wouldn't become like them? To forget what it means to be human and fragile? Maybe Kou had been right; maybe she was joining the ranks of the spoiled pureblood vampires.

She began to blink as she turned to roll over when she found herself looking at two long legs. She found Yuma's eyes, and tousled redish brown hair and was instantly surprised by the encounter.

"Little Piggy what is going on? Didn't you hear me? We're having dinner and it's mostly for you. Now get up." He pulled her arm up forcing her out of bed.

"Ahhh- wait, I'm not dressed properly. I should-"

"You don't have anything else here. You just have that and a uniform. It's not like you're naked."

"...but you didn't seem to care before when I was naked?" She looked a bit peeved, as she tried to fix herself. She'd passed out after Kou had come into her room and he'd left her shirt all disheveled.

He looked down at her. He had in fact tried to take her out of her bath before while she was naked, but things had changed. He'd seen many women naked before and she wasn't really their Eve anymore. She was however the next Vampiress, and would find her permanent place in one of the families. So for better or worse she was up for grabs. "Don't assume you're something special little Piggy. Maybe Kou was right, you're getting awfully cocky like those dumb little Pure-bloods?"

"I-I'm not...I just-"

"Forget it, get dressed and come down." He left rather abruptly.

She swallowed. Was she being cocky? She didn't think their blood tasted bad...I mean it did taste different to what the Sakamaki brothers had tasted like...it tasted ... less sweet...it left a taste in her mouth that reminded her...faintly perhaps of actual blood...not that it mattered...she knew it helped. But it didn't seem to help as much?

She looked in the mirror and fixed her shirt and tried to matt her hair down. Was it because they weren't pure bloods? Had she offended them?

Did that mean that when she became a vampire her blood would be less enticing for them because she wouldn't be human?

Once again she had no answers. She supposed she should eat with them...especially since Kou and Yuma seemed peeved...maybe she could fix things?

She went down the stairs to see Yuma and Kou sitting at the table.

"Wheres Ruki and-" She noticed where Ruki sat it looked like he'd already eaten. Azuza's looked...untouched.

"Oh look the grade-A Maso-Kitty came down to grace us with her presence finally?" Kou looked to the side, obviously affected by their last encounter, his eyes shaded over. Was he mad or was he actually disappointed in her?

"I- I didn't mean it like that! It's just their blood stops the pain in my heart quicker...I –I hate taking blood." She bit her lip, trying to explain herself.

"Well you'll have to get used to it." Yuma said bluntly popping a cherry tomato in his mouth from the salad on the table.

She sat down. She looked at the wine glass in front of her. Empty. She reached timidly to fill her bottle.

Kou eyed her while she was distracted.

"Then you better learn to take more of ours; we're not giving you back that easily. And you know what this means Maso-Kitty?" Kou got up quickly and walked past her chair. "You owe me for what happened earlier. I'm off to work."

She knew that meant that he expected a lot from her. Kou was so hard to read; his story was so tragic like most of the others. She'd seen a brief fragile part of him but the rest of the time he seemed to expect so much, as if the world owed him everything in return for the pain he'd suffered through.

All of the brothers seemed to share a bit of that trait.

"What?" Yuma said as he caught her brief glance toward him.

"Nothing." She looked away quickly.

"You haven't eaten?" He popped some food in his mouth. "You'll end up like those small weak vegetables that get plucked off and die."

"Why does everyone care so much... I'm just-"

"We all changed. Awakened from his power. We know the strangeness of it Piggy...but then again, if you don't at least try to keep yourself from dying you might just die completely. In that case we might as well just consume you...otherwise you're just wasted food." He rocked back in his dinner chair.

She widened her eyes. "Are you-"

"You know you're blood tastes good right? It would be stupid if you just died off...I wouldn't let a pretty bit of meat on that bone of yours go to waste..."

"Yuma-kun, what are you..." She was lost, and afraid.

"I used to eat humans ...nearly whole when I first became like this. Don't make me do that to you."

She looked to her plate. How? Was that possible?

"You know I grew that food, so I'm damn well taking offense." He stood up.

She quickly took a bite.

He looked a bit more satisfied, and then his smile faded. "Did you take Shu's blood?"

"I..." She recalled when Shu had appeared in her room after she had bit Ayato. She hadn't had she? "I haven't yet...but why does it matter?"

"Nothing." He said and walked over to her.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"If you won't eat, I'll do it myself." She noticed he had popped a cherry tomato from the salad into his mouth.

"Wha-" She tilted her head, stuck between him and the chair as he put both his hands on the rests.

He took one hand off to force open her mouth, pressing down on her chin, as his mouth pressed against hers. She found the cherry tomato popping, as it broke open in her mouth.

She recalled the way he'd done this before with the sugar cube.

"Eat it little Piggy." He whispered in her ear. She swallowed it, as she still questioned the idea that he had once eaten other human girls before...was he being serious? She tried to lean forward to break from his stare.

His smile broadened. "Don't expect me to let you go that quick." He moved his hands from the rests to her shoulders pressing her against the back of the chair. He then bit into her neck greedily.

"No ... Please..." She knew it was only a matter of time; she'd been weak for some reason ever since she'd came to the Mukami's household. It had barely been a day and already she questioned what Subaru had said; she might not make it. Everyone seemed so concerned with her surviving...but it seemed nobody had ever been born a vampire from having a vampire heart alone or drinking some strange potion. Her heart would soon loose its pace...

"If you had had the wine with dinner or perhaps appreciated Ruki's dinner and my vegetables...you wouldn't have been suffering now..." He bit down again, but this time he put weight into it causing her chair to fall backwards. She didn't follow but instead remained leaned back into his arms. She felt almost dwarfed to his large stature, but remained silent as she felt her heart find the irregular pattern of getting quieter...the pulse getting slower...her eyes droopy and her mouth parched.

"There is one thing I'll be happy to do with you; and that's know that I got farther than that lazy, sadistic oaf did. Even if you don't choose me in the end, he's still going to be second to me with you." She was suddenly put onto the table. His firm grasp was too much – perhaps she managed to muster strength from this new side of her to escape Kanato but she couldn't push his body off. He was much too large and strong.

She couldn't dare bite someone like him. He seemed so tough it seemed almost pointless to try to break his skin; with Yuma she was always subject to his control, almost more than any of the other vampire brothers on either side.
"You aren't about to get a choice in this either you know."
His heavy body pressed up, wavering against her as he leaned onto her on the table further. The plates were pushed out of the way. Suddenly it seemed as if he cared less about the food and it's value to her and more about consuming her as a meal.

It seemed as his bites moved from her neck, his tongue latched to her skin. Did he taste her? The idea of him consuming her still haunted her a bit, and yet, she knew...in some strange way that he wouldn't hurt her. Or perhaps it was the strange feeling bites gave her now; it was much more intimate...the pain was becoming more and more tolerable.

Still she knew well she needed blood. Yet, it wasn't in her character nor did it feel right to force someone into giving them her blood? It was so personal was it not? Still after the other boys...it seemed much too obtuse to...

His hand went over to her mouth, and the smell; the scent of the blood ...just beneath his skin – what did a vampire have blood for? The food that kept them, sat under their body; their heart never pumped it.

She blinked as she noticed her teeth had bit down; like the flesh of a blood tomato perforating to the juices beneath, she had bit near a knuckle on the side of his pinky finger...

"There's the appetite little Piggy; remember, take what you have before it's taken from you." Yuma's sideways smile rose; his eyes always cool and lidded. "Nobody is going to give you up; not even when you change. You're blood is cursed, so I suppose you begin to like this trade off...one of us will become your preference just like you're ours; drink up little Piggy."

Yuma was beginning to feel hot himself; now their blood was mixing, another bite from her, farther down onto the mound of skin that began her breast he knew it would become intoxicating.

But Ruki was probably right; they were at a disadvantage...who knew how much of their blood would equal a pure bloods to her?

He pressed his other hand firmly down her body down her side finally propping her ass up so she was pushed farther onto the table; he could now situate himself between her legs much easier.

"You taste so good now, I could just eat you up. I want all of you now."

Her eyes looked wide, as she let his hand fall from the grasp of her fangs; again she almost always lost herself when blood was on her lips and regained some form of sanity when she pushed it away.

Perhaps it was easier with the Mukami brothers...all the same...

She was beginning to learn too well what came next. And a part of her was becoming more familiar to it too. However something stuck in her mind; one of the boys would become her preference for blood? Could that be true? If so how would she know? Would her tastes change?

Now the rush of blood was too much for her to tell. She couldn't always differentiate between tastes...however as her bloodlust grew perhaps this next little while would help her tell? They were all slightly sweet, but something about the blood tasted a bit more strongly... perhaps there were not words for it-

"Aghhh."

She suddenly felt him grind into her.

He bit his lip; automated. That feeling of getting to that point with a woman, but he knew well doing this right now would not end well. He could not be a true Adam, and causing any extra stress on her body while she changed... nobody would win.

His hand instead chose to rip at her shirt, pushing it down to her waist revealing her salmon red bra. He bit her again by her breast and used his hand to fondle the other.

His hand slipped down her body and found it's way to the top of her pants; he expected perhaps more of a protest from the girl but found nothing but moans and winces.

He questioned how many others had done the same with her; it was a game now. She'd have to choose one; neither could offer more than the last other than the taste of blood. Their own palate of notes and flavours; he moved his hand further down.

She felt herself get warm again; she wondered if too she would eventually become cold to the touch like they had become. His fingers against her core were addicting; slightly larger and yet she bit her own lip knowing the others would condemn her for escaping their torment at the Sakamaki home only to accept the same treatment here. And yet each brother treated her differently but all wanted to claim her blood and her body.

His finger suddenly entered her and she moaned.

"Keep it up little Piggy." She smelled his scent again as he leaned into her ear, before biting her neck again.

It was a bit harder to take; she began to feel as if she had to move herself against his touch.

And yet, she found again, the irregular rhythms began to pulsate in her ear, slower and slower...perhaps worse than before.

He stopped noticing, as he noticed that her breath in his ear began to slow. She'd faded out.

He removed his fangs and put her over on the fainting couch by the window. She wasn't just a blood bank it was clearer than ever; she had a character about her and a will to withstand this change...she just was too polite about it all...

She intrigued him.

"Yuma, you need to come to the lounge." Ruki opened the door.

"Hmm?" He rose his head.

"We may have a problem. We can't quite figure it out yet though." Ruki's voice was still cool, but Yuma could tell when he was uneasy.

"Can't figure it out yourself huh?" Yuma felt an itch to bug him; although he brought them together he was still the only aristocrat born. It had irked him about the way he had had a near tantrum when he found out they were not fit to be Yui's Adam.

"Just come." Ruki said closing the door.

Yuma gave one quick glance to the sleeping little Piggy and left. This better damn well be a grave issue.